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Chahoua won't eat Pangea

Hi, I have been following this site for awhile but this is my first post. We purchased a PI Chahoua from a breeder in Florida. He was 6 months old and weighing in at 42 grams. Big boy. We have had him for 2 months and he still won't touch his Pangea. Breeder said he was cleaning the bowl. We have tried all flavors mixing it thick and thin. Even tried with a couple drops of honey. No luck. He eats 4 small dusted crickets every 3 days and that's all. His current weight is 40 grams. I believe through all my research that his setup is correct. He is in a small plastic tub. Temps around 75-80 with humidity between 60-80%. Any help would be appreciated!

Wow he's a very big boy for a Chahoua of 6 months.
Do you have the option to contact the breeder to determine if it was a particular flavour he was use to as there are quite a number now.
Was he use to feeding from ie floor or up high?
Did try bring the bowl to him?
Do you think his tub is big enough for him?
Is it worth trying Repashy as an alternative?
Does he have places to explore & climb about on?
Does he have a water bowl too?
Is he pooping ok?
This is just some ideas but I think if breeder is contactable this is most likely to be your best option & most breeders would only be too happy to help out & offer advice especially for animals they have bred.
Good luck

I have a new ML male who is demolishing Pangea and Repashy, but will barely take insects. I've tried dubia, crickets, waxworms, butterworms, phoenix worms, and superworms. He's taken one superworm out of all that!

This is only the second chahoua I've ever had, but I've had cresteds and gargs take *months* to settle in. And depending on their disposition and how the previous breeder fed and housed them, that settling in period can vary wildly. At this time I'm not worried and will just keep offering. More than likely, that's all you have to do as well.

However, if you are very concerned, I would ding the breeder (as mentioned above) and ask what flavour of Pangea was used, how it was offered, and exactly how he was set up.

Guess I've been lucky with Oak my little chahoua so far.
He is my one & only Mossy.
He will eat Crickets, Phoenix worms, mealworms, wax worms & Pangea in all flavours!
Such a great appetite for such a small guy.
I think if I let him he would eat bugs until he was sick!

Thanks for all the replies. I think the breeder is tired of hearing from me. I'll answer the questions that were asked above.

Wow he's a very big boy for a Chahoua of 6 months.
Do you have the option to contact the breeder to determine if it was a particular flavour he was use to as there are quite a number now. It was banana/apricot but we tried them all.
Was he use to feeding from ie floor or up high?He was feeding from the floor. I actually had him send me a photo of his setup.
Did try bring the bowl to him?Yes, he is still flighty at this time and is more interested in getting away from me.
Do you think his tub is big enough for him?I actually went one size bigger for his tub. He was in the small shoebox while at the breeder.
Is it worth trying Repashy as an alternative?I had thought of this also but did not try it. I will.......
Does he have places to explore & climb about on?Yes, He has a cork round, a fake fish aquarium limb and fake leaves.
Does he have a water bowl too?Yes, he has the medium zoo-med to help keep the humidity up.
Is he pooping ok?Seldom......but yes he is pooping.

Hi just a thought, when I introduce new food flavours I keep the new food flavour consistent for about 5-7 days until they start to take the new flavour. Seems to work ok with mine & might be worth a try.
Might be worth holding back on the crickets to see if this might starvation might encourage him to take the powdered diet, but understand this is a hard thing when your already concerned about his diet/weight.
Is he your only gecko right now or is he next door to another animal?
Sometimes this can put animals off eating.
Good luck with your not so little guy.

Hi just a thought, when I introduce new food flavours I keep the new food flavour consistent for about 5-7 days until they start to take the new flavour. Seems to work ok with mine & might be worth a try.
Might be worth holding back on the crickets to see if this might starvation might encourage him to take the powdered diet, but understand this is a hard thing when your already concerned about his diet/weight.
Is he your only gecko right now or is he next door to another animal?
Sometimes this can put animals off eating.
Good luck with your not so little guy.

Thank you for the reply. We are going to try Rephasy today if we can find it locally. He sure loves his crickets. Tough love is so hard to do. He is secluded in a space where he doesn't see other animals so I don't think that is it. Also he is in a plastic bin which isn't totally clear. He's the only one in the herd giving us trouble right now. We have 2 beardies, 6 leopards, a panther chameleon, 2 leaches and the 1 Chewie.

My chewie is no big fan of gecko diet either. He does eat a bit of the Pangea original (now "gecko treat"), and BPZ colorbomb or melonistic. I tried the "tough love" approach for two weeks, and gave up when his tail started to show slight kinks (they have completely straightened out by now). I decided it can not be healthy to starve a gecko into MBD just to get it to eat a certain diet. I am also trying the homemade "modern dinosaur" diet found on Modern Dinosaur's Facebook page. It is not a complete diet and only recommended in combination with properly gut loaded and dusted insects. My chahoua seems to like it, but not a whole lot more than the other diets. In my limited experience raising one chahoua I also got the impression that he has slightly different habitat requirements than the cresties. He basks a lot under a heat lamp and UV light, and enjoys a large temperature gradient (85 F at the top of his tank, 70 - 75 at the bottom). He started seeking out the hot spot in his tank much more as he got older (he is 1.5 years now).

So I thought I would update. We ended up trying every GCD available, both brands. Tried dusting his crickets with it just to give him a taste. We tried mixing thin and thick. Tough love only lasted so long until we gave up and fed him crickets everyday but made GCD available which he never ate. He eventually went to 43 grams and stayed there for months. Last week out of the blue he started eating the Pangea watermelon. His colors got much richer and shot to 50 grams. Yes, 7 grams in a week. Now he can't seem to get enough of the stuff. Happy days!